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Cambridge to consider signs suggesting motorists slow to 25 in residential areas
By adamg on Mon, 05/09/2016 - 7:19am
The Cambridge City Council today considers a proposal "advising" drivers to go no more than 25 in residential areas.
Three councilors say the move could reduce pedestrian fatalities without having to wait for and hope the state legislature lets the city actually lower speed limits in thickly settled areas from the current 30 m.p.h.
Last month, the Boston City Council approved a home-rule petition asking the legislature to let Boston set the default speed limit in residential areas at 20 m.p.h. - and 15 m.p.h. in school zones.
In their proposal, three Cambridge councilors write:
Although the City of Cambridge is not authorized to post an actual speed limit sign without permission from the state highway department, it may be possible to post "advisory speed limit" signage without having to obtain state-level approval
Via the Cambridge Civic Journal, which also reports on all the other items on today's agenda.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
How cute
Why not just post a plea not to hit people? It will have the same affect. (None)
Another Suggestion
Drivers, kindly put your cell phones away and out of reach while driving.
Yep, that'll fix it because
nobody sped on residential streets and there were no accidents (crashes) before cell phones.
I don't understand the logic of your response
Are you suggesting that no accidents are caused by people who are paying more attention to their phone than they are to what is going on outside the windshield?
Or
If this is all for pedestrian safety, add signs advising people to cross streets at crosswalks, and look both ways before crossing the street.
Also
Stay away from the ground floor of buildings, because it's not like a car can't come in through a window and get you there
How about AND, not OR?
No need to make this a choice between two options - we could do both. But if we're only going to do one, I think it's fair to put the burden of safety on the folks operating dangerous equipment.
Aren't too many signs just
Aren't too many signs just another form of distracted driving?
It sounds like this will be a
It sounds like this will be a standard black-on-yellow warning sign, not something with a lot of polite wording.
Most drivers already go 25 or less on narrow residential streets. The ones who go significantly faster can already be ticketed for driving too fast for the conditions -- no law change is needed.
What part of Cambridge do you
What part of Cambridge do you live where most drivers go 25mph or less on residential streets? Definitly not any part of Cambridge where I live (East Cambridge) or any part I have walked through. Drivers speed all through Cambridge, they also park in bus and bike lane, double park and dont stop for stop signs. Drivers passing through/driving in Cambridge operate their vehicles recklessly throughout Cambridge on a daily basis, and instead of suggestions, the city council should do what Boston had the balls to do and vote to change the speed limit to 20mph and really enforce it. If police won't do their job and enforce the laws, they should hire new ones who can do their job.
How did you measure these
How did you measure these supposed speeds over 25?
The city did it with radar. https://www.motorists.org/blog/one-citys-traffic-speed-data/
That shows many people going
That shows many people going 30-40 mph. Thanks for making my point. Even the National Motorists Blog post links to a study that shows people are frequently going 30-40mph.
Many people are going 30-40
Many people are going 30-40 mph on streets like Binney, and Concord Ave by Fresh Pond, i.e. not narrow or residential.
You still haven't mentioned a single street name, or how you measured your supposed speeds. But you said you're from East Cambridge, so let's look at the city's data on some narrow streets there.
Spring Street between 6th and Fulkerson: 21, 19, and 22 mph
7th between Otis and Thorndike: 22 mph
8th at Thorndike: 19 mph
2nd at Thorndike: 24 and 22 mph
5th at Spring: 26, 27, 26, 26, 28, and 27 mph
Keep in mind that these are 85th percentile speeds, so most drivers are going slower than this.
Nine Person Council meet the Five Man Electric Band
Signs won't do it
Too many people already ignore speed limits and get pretty aggressive about their "right" to speed. Remember the recent post where speeders claimed that the person in front of them driving the speed limit is actual responsible for their rage? Roads need to be made so people drive slower. Traffic calming plus better enforcement is necessary.
http://www.streetfilms.org/20s-plenty-the-move-to-safer-speeds-in-the-uk/
Not worth it. The digital
Not worth it. The digital sign which tells you how fast you're going on Beacon in Boston near where 2 pedestrians were killed has had ZERO effect on the speeders. Nothing has changed. Idiots still drag race.
Maybe speed bumps at certain intervals on Beacon Street
and other major streets in Boston and Cambridge would be the best way to go, then. People would think twice about speeding, and possibly ruining the underside of their car.